Sunday, May 23, 2010

Fake Painting? Take a Video, Run it Through the Moog, and Hang it in the Ashmolean!

NOTICED ON THE INTERWEBS-

a portrait of Israels, but not -the- portrait

- Israeli art detectives crack a forgery riddle: "The portrait of a glum, bespectacled man was about to go on auction in Amsterdam when someone at Sotheby's noticed a problem: Israel's national museum owned precisely the same painting. One of them had to be a fake..." but, which one???

- Putting New Faces on Islamic History: "One balmy evening this month, a glamorous crowd was packed into the tiny Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery on the Upper East Side for the opening of “Icons,” a show of video installations by the Iranian-born filmmaker Shoja Azari that runs through Friday. But there was also an undercurrent of nervousness in the gallery, which specializes in Iranian art. For weeks, its owner, Ms. Heller, had received worried letters from friends, many of whom suggested that she think twice before showing Mr. Azari’s new work... find out why!

ALMANAC-

May 23, 1617: Elias Ashmole, celebrated English antiquary, politician, officer of arms, astrologer and student of alchemy, was born. "Ashmole was an antiquary with a strong Baconian bent for the study of nature. Although he was one of the founding members of the Royal Society, a key institution in the development of experimental science, his interests were antiquarian and mystical as well as scientific. Throughout his life he was an avid collector of curiosities and other artifacts. Many of these he acquired from the traveller, botanist, and collector John Tradescant the Younger. Ashmole donated most of his collection, his antiquarian library and priceless manuscripts to the University of Oxford to create the Ashmolean Museum". As historian Richard Garnett observed, "acquisitiveness was his master passion".

May 23, 1934: Dr. Robert Arthur Moog, American pioneer of electronic music, best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer, was born. "The Moog synthesizer was one of the first widely used electronic musical instruments. The first Moog instruments were modular synthesizers. In 1971 Moog Music began production of the Minimoog Model D which was among the first widely available, portable and relatively affordable synthesizers. One of Moog's earliest musical customers was Wendy Carlos whom he credits with providing feedback that was valuable to the further development of Moog synthesizers. Through his involvement in electronic music, Moog developed close professional relationships with artists such as Don Buchla, Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, John Cage, Gershon Kingsley, Clara Rockmore, and Pamelia Kurstin. In a 2000 interview, Moog said "I'm an engineer. I see myself as a toolmaker and the musicians are my customers. They use my tools."

ON OUR SHELVES-

"Traditional Jewish Papercuts. An Inner World of Art and Symbol"

By Joseph & Yehudit Shadur.

Published by the University Press of New England in 2002.

“The definitive work on papercuts, a long-overlooked aspect of Jewish folk art. The making of devotional papercuts is a relatively little-known aspect of traditional Jewish folk art and culture. While many ritual objects treasured today as "Judaica" were crafted from expensive materials, even the poorest Jew could afford paper, pencil, and penknife with which to make a papercut as a deeply-felt, personal expression of faith. Many of these works are gems of unaffected artistic creation. More than any other form of Jewish art, the surviving old Jewish papercuts evoke the spirit and lore of the East-European shtetl and the North African mellah. By the mid-20th century, however, the venerable Jewish papercutting tradition had become another lost folk art.